76 BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 



the seeds dispersed. But cones of many years old can be found on 

 many trees, and though some have no seeds, others are full, and by 

 cutting them across the seeds are found perfectly good. For commer- 

 cial purposes when the new cones are not abundant enough, old cones 

 are gathered for the seeds, and they grow just as well as the recently 

 matured ones. I have known Pinus pungens six years cleaned to 

 grow just as well as those taken from the cones, -and these cleaned 

 seeds, too, made up from old closed cones, as well as from the fresher 

 ones. 



I have often been tempted to take up the pen, when scientific ex- 

 periments have been recorded on the growth of seeds. Many of 

 them are fallacious from assuming that seeds fail to grow to young 

 plants for no other reason than that the seeds had lost their vital pow- 

 er. One may take a hundred of the freshest kind of Pine seeds and 

 another hundred of the same kind and sow in separate pots, and 

 keep both under exactly the same conditions as far as he knows, and 

 yet from the hidden causes I have referred to, luive one hundred 

 plants from one pot, and not fifty from the other. I feel quite sure 

 that a serotinous Pine seed, if white and not yellowish when cut 

 across, would grow just as well when twenty years old as anv from 

 recent cones. — 7\ M. 



Michigan L.ake Shore Plants —The following is a partial list 

 of plants growing on the beach and sand banks of Lake Michi^ran in 

 the viQinity of South Haven, Mich. : 



Geranium Robertianum, L., grows sparingly on shady bluffs. 

 T'/^/^^z /;7>//,^/d2, L. , grows quite thriftily in clean white sand. Ani- 

 1ns hirsuta, Scop., is found on banks with heavy soil, and A. lyrata L 

 abundantly in pure sand. The lyrate pinnatifid radical leaves' of 

 A. lyrata are generally entirely covered by the drifting sand, causing 

 them soon to decay, thus making the plant difficult of\analysis. The 

 uppermost leaves are perfectly linear, and the whole plant often 

 glaucous. 



Primus Vinriniana L., P. Pcnnsylvanica. L, and P pumila, L., 

 are all found on sandy banks, the latter often ascending to a height of 

 over four fe.et. PoteniiUa Anscrina, L., grows on the level beach, its 

 clumps of beautiful pinnate leaves, strongly resembling, at a short 

 distance, a tuft of ferns. Crataegus tomeniasa, L., vi\r. pyri folia oc- 

 curs occasionally. Lathyrus maritimus, Bigelow, is plentiful in the 

 sands all along the beach, making a fine display. 



Diervilla tri/ida, Moench.," occurs sparingly in the sand. Cir- 

 sium Pitcheri, Torr. and Gr., grows on sand bluffs. It is a singular 

 plant, its very heavy heads resting on the ground. 



Pyrola clilorantha, Swartz., P. secunda, L.. and Oiimaphila umbel- 

 lafa, Nutt., occur on shaded bluffs. Arctostaphylos Uva-ursi, Spreng.,1 

 found on exposed, sandy banks. 



Polygonum dlinode, Mx., is abundant in drifting sand. Euphor- 

 hia polygonifolia, L., is found on the level beach, also Corispermum 

 hyssopifobuw, L., but sparingly. 



